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Holmleigh Park High School

Letter from the Head - 17th September 2021

In this issue: Open Evening success, and updates on vaccinations and PE kit

Dear all,

It's been a great week, with Open Evening a particular highlight. It was an absolute delight to be hosting an in-person event rather than a virtual one - the first one we've had in over 18 months! I was thrilled to welcome so many guests, with over 600 people attending, and I enjoyed talking about our school journey in the hall. The real stars of the night were all of the Year 8s and Year 13s who came in to help; they were absolutely fantastic ambassadors, and we had lovely comments about them all night. They did us proud. I was also pleased to hear so many families say that they intended to put Holmleigh Park as their first choice, with 98% of families who completed our exit survey saying they would either definitely or probably put Holmleigh Park as their first choice. As a result, I'm very confident that we will be oversubscribed in 2022.

Back at school, lessons have continued as normal, with students really getting stuck in. Year 7 in particular deserve huge credit - they've settled in extremely well overall and their teachers have been incredibly complementary.

Unfortunately, we have had a few issues with items going missing from the PE changing rooms this week. Given that it has mostly been blazers and ties going missing in Year 7 and 8, the most likely explanation is that students are picking up their classmate's uniform by mistake. I'd therefore be very grateful if you could make sure your child's clothes are labelled - the easiest way to do this is simply with a marker pen on the label. In the meantime, we will of course continue to keep a close eye on the situation.

Turning to COVID, we've had a relatively quiet week with only one reported case, which is encouraging. I'm sure you will have seen the government's plans to offer COVID-19 vaccines to 12-15 year olds. We don't yet have a confirmed date; once I know this I will circulate it to parents in the relevant year groups. I appreciate that there are strong feelings on both sides of the debate, so I want to assure you of a couple of key points:

  • The vaccination programme will be carried out by the NHS. Holmleigh Park will not be involved other than sending home letters and consent forms and providing a hall.

  • Only students with the correct consent forms will be vaccinated. This is very much a decision for you to make in conjunction with your children.

If you do have any questions about this, please direct them to the NHS rather than the school. You can contact the Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust directly by emailing [email protected] or calling 03004217063.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend,

Best wishes,

Mr Farmbrough

Headteacher